The NHL announced Wednesday that Ottawa Senators forward Alex Burrows would be suspended for 10 games for kneeing New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall in the head. For once, NHL Player Safety got this one right.
It isn’t often we give props to the NHL Department of Player Safety good marks, but that’s exactly what’s happening here. They announced Wednesday that Alex Burrows would be forced to sit for 10 games after he viciously attacked New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall after the play.
There isn’t many people arguing that Burrows deserved less, which is good. When Brad Marchand was suspended five games for an errant elbow to Marcus Johansson’s head, you saw Boston fans come out in droves to cry foul. That wasn’t the case here.
There is no denying the intent of Burrows. He wanted to hurt Hall, and it was obvious from the start. Hall skated away from the scrum, caused by a clean hit in the offensive zone, and Burrows pounced. He grabbed him, held him from behind, dropped him to the ice, punched him in the back of the head, then for good measure threw multiple knees while the refs tried to pull him off.
There’s nothing to say except for the fact that it was a disgusting act. With everything we know about concussions, there’s no room in hockey for attacks to the head.
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I’ve seen some people asking for more games, but it’s really hard to give a player more than 10 games. Think about this, Dennis Wideman cross checked a linesman and only missed 10 games after appeal. The scary Shawn Thornton hit that knocked out Brooks Orpick was given 15 games. Radko Gudas, who we all know has a history, once only got a 10 game suspension for slashing a player in the neck.
10 games feels right for Burrows. The DoPS needed to send a message that this wasn’t okay. At the same time, they didn’t need to make history with this suspension. Burrows will be hit hard by this suspension. He’s not going to see the ice (pending an appeal) until March. Sure, the Sens season is all but over, but taking away the game a player loves is plenty of punishment.
Devils fans are lucky. Hall could have been seriously injured. He wasn’t. Hall got right up after the attack and was fine. I don’t want to say that should come into play into the suspension, but I’m sure it did.
Burrows shouldn’t appeal this suspension, because he has to know what he did isn’t right. He should sit his 10 games then try and clean up his image all over again.